by John Macdonald | Nov 4, 2025 | AI, The250
It’s easy to treat AI like a vending machine: Insert prompt. Get result. Fair enough. That is probably fine for many of the tasks you give it. But if you want quality and nuanced output for a complex task, you want to think more like a coach, rather than a director... by John Macdonald | Nov 3, 2025 | AI, The250
AI can be like your teenager who doesn’t want to mow the lawn. It’ll do it, but if you don’t guide it, it’ll rush through and do a crappy job. It’s done, but it might not be good. If you want it done right, you’ve got to slow it down. The same is true for an... by John Macdonald | Nov 2, 2025 | AI, The250
AI is a tireless brainstorming partner. That’s one of its best features. So use it that way. Don’t ask for “the perfect headline” or “the best CTA.” Ask for 10. Or 25. Tell it you want a whole bunch of ideas to pick from, mash together, or get inspired by. The point... by John Macdonald | Nov 1, 2025 | AI, The250
You want clever output. However, to get what you’re looking for, your prompt needs to be to the point and specific. Boring, really. Plus, you want the LLM to ask you questions and make it interactive when useful. An LLM is very sure of itself. To the point of... by John Macdonald | Oct 31, 2025 | AI, The250
Unlike with humans, where less is more and simplicity is king, AI needs more words from you. Brevity doesn’t help. Succinctness doesn’t help. Inference definitely doesn’t help. AI doesn’t infer what you meant, only what you typed. Verbosity helps.... by John Macdonald | Oct 30, 2025 | AI, The250
AI works much better if both you and it know who it is — which role each of you is playing. The first thing to remember is that you’re the boss. You’re always the boss. To get the most and the best out of an LLM, you have to think and direct as the boss. ...